Klark Teknik DN530 Quad Gate

Description

With the unrelenting absorption of signal processing into digital mixing consoles, outboard gear now has to contribute something extra special merely to justify its space in the rack. The new DN530 Creative Quad Gate does just that. It brings some exciting new tools to the audio party. The DN530 features "Transient Accenting", a creative feature providing an easy way to enhance the attack envelope beyond merely opening the gate. This can provide up to 12dB of additional transient energy and its primary application is to provide additional impact on drums and percussion instruments, although it can be used to enhance the impact of many instruments, including acoustic stringed instruments such as guitar and piano.

Transient Accenting is unique in that it allows the operator precise control over the amount of enhancement applied to each channel of processing.

The DN530 brings a creative flare to drum channels with its unique accent feature which largely eliminates the need for excessive EQ or compression.

Overview

Quad channel gate

It features a unique progressively controllable accent level that emphasizes the start of a signal to increase the dynamic power within percussive signals

Gate attack is exponential which means it can be set extremely fast to reduce signal loss at the start of sounds while remaining sonically transparent - no clicks

Gate release is reverse exponential so it can be set relatively fast and blend in seamlessly with the natural decay of the material

Designed from an exemplary technical point of view, features extremely low noise and distortion levels

The gate features an advanced band pass side chain filter to increase trigger source discrimination

The gate provides rotary controls for all envelope characteristics and range

External key inputs and ducking facilities are provided

The status of bypass, solo and other major switches are boldly presented to avoid mistakes

Each channel shall have a rotary Threshold control to set the signal level at which the Noise Gate opens. The channel metering shall have a green "THR" LED to indicate when the signal exceeds this threshold.

Each channel shall have rotary controls for setting the Attack, Hold and Release times of the Noise Gate. The channel metering shall have a yellow "HLD" LED to indicate when the Hold portion of the dynamic control envelope is active and an orange "REL" LED to indicate when the release portion of the dynamic control envelope is active. The Hold function shall also have Intelligent Threshold Shift (i-TS) to provide threshold hysteresis to avoid repeated opening and closing of the Noise Gate in response to low frequency signals close to the threshold level set by the user.

Each channel shall have an Accent rotary control to accentuate the initial transient that opens the Noise Gate by adding an overshoot characteristic with up to +12 dB of gain as the Noise Gate opens. The channel metering shall have a blue "ACC" LED to indicate when the Accent function is adding gain to the initial transient. The Accent shall also function independently of the noise gate when the range control is set to 0dB.

Each channel shall have a latching pushbutton switch with an associated orange LED labelled "DUCK" to reverses the operation of the gate so that it closes when signals exceed the threshold set by the user and opens when they go fall below the set threshold. When the Duck function is active, the Accent rotary control and "ACC" LED shall be disabled.

Each channel shall have a rotary Range control to adjust the amount of gain reduction applied to signals below the threshold level. Each channel shall also have a red "SHUT" LED to indicate when the Noise Gate is fully closed.

Each channel shall have a latching pushbutton switch with an associated red LED labelled "BYPASS" to remove the Noise Gate from the signal path.

Each channel shall have a Clip LED included in the channel metering to indicate when the input signal is exceeding the clipping point of the Noise Gate.

Each channel shall also have a sidechain control section with a bandpass filter controlled with a rotary control labelled Frequency to set the filter centre frequency. The sidechain control section shall have a latching pushbutton switch with an associated green LED labelled "FILTER" to put the bandpass filter in the sidechain signal path. The sidechain control section shall also have a latching pushbutton switch with an associated yellow LED labelled "EXT" to select the external sidechain ¼" TRS Jack input as the signal source for the sidechain instead of the signal that the Noise Gate is acting on.

The Noise Gate shall have a Solo Bus to allow monitoring of the sidechain control input signals for each channels. The Solo Bus shall have input and output XLR connectors on the rear panel to facilitate the serial connection of units and to connect to a line input on a mixing console for monitoring via its Solo Bus console headphone amp.

The sidechain control section of each channel shall have a latching pushbutton switch with an associated yellow LED labelled Solo to enable the post-filter sidechain signal onto the Noise Gate solo bus.

The Noise Gate shall have an integral switch-mode power supply capable of operating from a 100 - 240 V a.c. ±10%, 50 to 60 Hz AC power source and have an IEC 60320 C14 mains inlet with integral fuse. A blue LED labelled "POWER" shall be included on the front panel to indicate when the unit is powered on.

The Noise Gate shall be the KLARK TEKNIK Model DN530 and no alternative specification option is available.